Computer cleanup and 3 tips for Windows users.
Computer cleanup is the process of clearing out all the unnecessary and unwanted files on your computer.
Computer cleanup removes the old files and folders that slow your computer down.
These unnecessary and unwanted old files are usually no longer needed by your computer.
So why not just get rid of them?
That’s right.
Just find the files and folders and delete them from your computer.
But which files do your delete?
Which folders do you keep?
And more importantly, where exactly are these files and folders located?
Unless you are a computer geek, guru or nerd, there’s no way to know.
And deleting these files by yourself can be dangerous.
Especially if you don’t know what you are doing.
Imagine deleting the wrong windows file or folder and your computer won’t start.
Or worse.
In this article, you are going to learn three important computer cleanup tips and tricks.
Dont worry, it happens to everyone.
You finally decide to purchase that spanking, brand new desktop, laptop or tablet computer.
You rip it out of the box, and find a nice, new, clean new home for it.
Next, you hook it up to the Internet.
And off to the races you go.
You jump on Google, and start looking for new shoes, car parts, home audio systems or video game accessories.
After awhile, you hope on Facebook and start sharing photos of your cat laying on your new computer keyboard.
Then, you realize you’re out of organic honey, shampoo, conditioner and body wash, and make your way over to Amazon for some light shopping.
Then it’s time for lunch or dinner, and you decide to put on your favorite tunes, and hop on YouTube to fire up a playlist.
But what you don’t realize is this:
Each and every time you visit a website or browse the Internet, your computer is secretly working in the background.
Your brand new computer is downloading and saving massive amount of files and data to your hard drive!
At first, it isn’t a big deal.
You just bought a super computer with lots of ram, a super fast processor and speedy solid state drives, right?
But after months of surfing the web, googling, Facebook, YouTube and installing software, you start to notice a change.
Your brand new super computer is starting to not feel so super.
Little by little, you start to notice it’s taking longer and longer for web pages to come up or apps to load.
Eventually, after a few months, your brand new super computer, is starting to feel like your old computer.
And that sucks!
But it doesn’t have to.
Computer cleanup is the best way to whip that brand new computer right back into shape.
You just have to delete a few files and folders and you’re good to go.
But which files and folders do you delete?
What are the good files to delete and which are the bad files?
Well today, were going to show you exactly which files and folders to safely remove from your computer.
Computer cleanup doesn’t have to be a pain.
But you do need to know where to look on your computer and know what to delete.
Every Windows PC has a special place in your computer that it saves files and folders to.
Whenever you surf the web and visit Facebook, Google or YouTube, your computer stores small bits of information on your hard drive.
But why?
Why would your computer do this to you?
Well there’s a couple of reasons.
Whenever you visit a website, your computer has to download files, images, and all other types of information.
Including cookies.
When you leave the Facebook or Amazon, and come back, your computer loads those files from your temp folder.
This makes the site load faster than it did before because it didn’t have to download them again.
Cookies are small, little files that store information about your recent activities on a website.
When you return to the site, it reads those cookies and knows it’s you.
This is how you are able to log back into Facebook or Amazon and they know it’s you.
However, after months or years, these files add up and start to slow down your computer.
The first place to look when deleting these files is your temp folder.
Your temp folder is located in the deep, dark recesses of your computer.
But there’s a quick and easy way to get there.
Just open your start menu, type RUN and enter %TMP% or %TEMP% and hit the enter button.
Windows will open it’s file explorer called Windows Explorer.
From there, you will see a bunch of yellow folders and white files.
These are the files and folders stored in the Windows Temp folder.
You can delete them to free up space.
Deleting the wrong files or folders can seriously damage your Windows installation.
While this guide is showing you a super easy way to clean up your computer, it’s meant for people who are a little familiar with a computer.
Depending on how big your temp folder is, it may take a few moments to delete everything.
Don’t worry this is normal.
Another way to speed up your computer is to clean up the browser cache.
Google Chrome, Firefox, Intermet Explorer and Safari all download files from the internet.
Some of these files are stored in the windows temp folder mentioned above.
But some of are not.
Each browser has a different way of storing temporary files from the internet.
Clearing out the browser’s cache is a great way to speed up your computer’s internet browsing.
Ever noticed how some websites load slower than they used to?
Well it’s probably because your browser has gotten fat and bloated from too eating too many cookies, files and folders.
Clearing our your cache is a great way to whip your browser back into shape and shake off the weight!
But once again, warning.
Deleting your browsers cache can cause some issues.
Remember those cookies we were talking about earlier?
Well those cookies store your active login sessions for the sites you visit.
After deleting those files, you may have to log back in with your username and password.
But, heaven forbid you don’t remember your username or password for each and every site you log into!
However, if you use a password manager for storing all your login information, then you should be good to go.
Password managers are great!
You can save your username and password for each and every website you log into from your browser.
Password managers are safe, secure and effective.
Most browsers have some form of a password manager built into it.
However, if you completely delete your cache, cookies and browsing information, it could also empty your password manager.
So keep that in mind.
I highly recommend using a separate password manager for all your logins.
Lastpass password manager is safe, secure and best of all it’s free.
You can download Lastpass for Windows absolutely free.
Lastpass is also a free browser extension that works with most major browsers.
Each time you visit a website, Lastpass will automatically enter your username and password.
If you have never logged into the website with Lastpass before, it will ask if you want to save the username and password after logging in.
Lastpass is that simple and super cool to use!
The last and final computer cleanup tip is to uninstall software from your computer.
Any unnecessary programs or apps that you no longer use can be uninstalled and removed from your computer.
Not only can this speed up your computer, but it can also help free up disk space as well.
Computer cleanup can be useful and necessary.
Anytime you install softawre or appes on your computer, there are always small amounts of information stored on the hard drive.
The Window Temp folder is the primary temporary place files are stored.
Wheather you are install software or browsing the web, the temp folder is eventually going to grow in size.
If you are connected to the internet and constantly surfing the web, its just a matter of time before your browser starts to get bloated and slows down as well.
Knowing how to perform a good computer cleanup is essential to using a Windows PC.
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Reason Technology IT | Ray is an author, blogger, humanist, philanthropist and friend who is also an amazing Expert IT Support Specialist. With over 25 years of experience, Ray’s emphasis is on working with small, mid-size, and large businesses. His hobbies include history, reading, writing, technology, and uplifting others through the use of his many skills and talents. Got a question? Just ask Ray!
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